It is no longer news that disinformation is a global challenge. We’re flooded with deceptive and manipulated content in every sphere of our lives.

Legislatures are the representative body of a nation’s people. To be effective, they must incorporate and represent all citizens, including equal representation of women. Ensuring gender balance in parliament reflects an important commitment to women’s human rights and responsive policymaking. 

Imagine: the world is gripped by a global health crisis caused by a mysterious virus spreading death and devastating communities. As scientists struggle to find a treatment, disinformation proves as infectious as the virus. National governments refuse to work together, cover up key information, marginalize affected communities, and contradict themselves, each other and science.

Around the world, a diversity of beliefs and nonbeliefs interact with and are integrated into political, social and cultural contexts. This reality makes collaborating and partnering with religious communities to advance development goals, known as strategic religious engagement (SRE), an intricate, yet important, process. 

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the heightening climate crisis to an increase in authoritarian overreach, 2020 has sorely tested the strength of democracies globally. Even while the world continues to reel from the effects of these multiple threats, at least one lesson of 2020 is already apparent: the parliaments most effective in upholding democratic norms and meeting citizen needs are the ones that have maintained a firm commitment to the principles of transparency, openness and accountability. 

From Côte d'Ivoire to Myanmar, Tanzania to Georgia, Bolivia to Jordan, Moldova, the U.S. and beyond, in recent weeks, elections across the globe have highlighted the importance of peaceful transitions. A pivotal moment of the democratic process, peaceful transitions signal a government’s commitment to respect the people’s will in electing their next leader.